Tailpiece eor stringed musical instruments



A. D. GROVER TAILPIECE FOR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed Aprii 18,1923 Patented Dec. 22, 1925.

UNITED STATES ALBERT D. GROVER, F LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK.

TA-ILPIECE FOR STRINGED IM'USICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Application filed April 18, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AL ERT D. GRovnR, citizen'of the United States ofAmerica, residing atLong Island City, Long Island, New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Tailpieces for Stringed MusicalInstruments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to improvements in tail pieces forstringed musical instruments.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a form of tailpiece by means of which the strings, under tension, will be heldsecurely at their ends about a series of projecting tongues, and tofurther provide the tail piece with means whereby the said strings willbe held properly spaced from one another and so arranged as to relievethe strain on the said attached ends of the strings.

Another feature of my invention is a hinged: cover which serves as ahood for the strings at their attached ends, and which is provided withan improved locking arrangement by means of which the cover is raised asit is swung to its closed position and then adjusted downwardly tosecure its position with respect to the tail piece.

The ordinary tail piece fora musical stringed instrument is soconstructed that it is rather diflicult to replace a. broken string oreven for the manufacturer to attachthe original strings when theinstrument is being assembled. This is due to the time required tothread the strings through the various openings in the device and theplacing of a separate cover member in position. It is the purpose of thepresent invention to provide a cover member which is hinged to the tailpiece and which may be swung backwardly to expose the string receivingprongs and to further provide the tail. piece with T shaped forwardmembers under which the strings may he slid and then received by theusual tuning peg. The time required for this operation is only a matterof a few seconds while in the previous arrangement two or more minutesare required to change a string.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of my invention willbecome apparent from the following description, reference being made tothe accompanying drawings, in which, Figure 1 is a top plan view of myimproved tail piece, the cover Serial No. 632,846

of the latter being broken away to show otherwise hidden parts; Figure 2is a side elevational view of a tail piece attached to the rim of abanjo instrument; Figure 3 is a substantially cross sectional view takenon the line 3-3 of Figure 1 showing the cover piece swungaway from thetail piece; Figure 4 is a rear view of my improved tail piece with thecover in lowered position to disclose the manner in which the loopedstrings are attached to the tail piece; Figure 5 isa detail sectionalview taken through the hinge for the cover piece; Figure 6 is a sideelevational view of a cover piece and adjacent portion of the tail pieceshowing a slightly modified construction of mounting the'cover andFigure 7 is a sectional view taken through the hinge connection shown inFigure 6.

Referring to the drawings, 10 designates the rim of a stringed musicalinstrumenthaving the usual screw 11 which passes into the end of thestick 12 of the instrument. The head of the screw 11 carries an uprightbolt 13 to which my new tail piece is connected, as illustratedparticularly in Figure 2.

The tail piece proper is designated generally 14 and consistsof a headplate. section 15, an integral downwardly turned rim Section 16 and arearwardly projecting bolt section 17. The head plate section 15. isadapted to lie over and closely adjacent the head 18 of the instrument,as illustrated in Figure 2. The downwardly turned section 16 isdisposedsubstantially at right angles to the section and lies-againstthe tension hoop 19 of the instrument. The lower end of the section 16is tapered ,inwardly and the integral projection 17 extending rearwardlyat right angles thereto is provided with an opening 20 through whichprojects the head of the bolt 13. In order that the tail piece may beadjusted and held in true central position, I provide the section 16with a screw 16 which passes through the said turned down section 16 andbears against the outside wall of the instrument run.

The downwardly turned section 16 is provided with string receivingmembers 21, which may be in the form of curved prongs, the turned downportion 22 thereof being adapted to receive the loop of a string 23 orto receive the knotted end of the latter in thespace or slot 24 betweenadjacent prongs 22. The members 21 are bent outwardly from the upperwall of an opening 25 in the section 16, as shown in Figure 3. The edgesof the section 16 are provided wit-h turned portions or ears 26, bent atright angles to 16 and having openings adjacent their lower ends toreceive the pivot pins 27 for sup porting the cover piece 28. At theangle of the two sections 15 and 16 the material is provided with aseries of inclined grooves 29 spaced evenly from one another and inposition directly above the teeth of the comb like arrangement.

In the present invention my improved tailpiece receives looped stringsand knotted strings equally well, a condition which en ables the tailpiece to be used on either 4 or 5 string type of instruments, whereinthe wire strings are looped and the gut-strings and silk strings areknotted.

The head-plate section 15, is tapered slightly outwardly from theangular edge and the side edges of the section are provided withdownwardly bent portions 30 which are adapted to reinforce the mainportion 15 of the tail piece. In order to quick ly attach the strings Iprovide the free end of the head-plate 15 with a suitable number(usually two) of T-shaped projections 31, each of which consists of across head portion 32 and a slightly downwardly curved stem connectingthe portion 32 with the body of the base plate 15. The cross headportions 32 are slightly rounded or turned upwardly, as indicatedclearly in Figure 2. In addition to the T-shaped project1ons 31 thehead-plate 15 is provided with a central opening 33 through which thecenter string of the instrument is threaded. In order to insure correctpositioning of the strings with respect to the stem portions of theT-shaped members 31, I provide slightly curved depressions or grooves 31in which the strings are disposed and guided to lie closely to the edgesof the said stems. These depressions also serve to keep the string frombreaking at this point.

Referring to the cover piece 28, the latter consists of a body portion34, adapted to lie over and close to the head-plate 15, and a downwardlybent portion 35 having side walls 36 provided with openings 37 at theirlower ends to receive the pivot pins 27. The side walls 36 have smallouter projections 38 disposed adjacent their upper ends so as to causethe cover 28 to bind against the ears 26 of the tail piece 14 when inclosed position.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 6 and 7, the earpieces 26 are provided with open ended slots 39 at their upper ends andalined slots 40 adjacent their lower ends, the latter being adapted toloosely embrace the pivot members 27*, while the upper slots receivelocking pins 41 fixed to the bent portions 34 of the cover piece 28.

Figure 5 shows the means by which the cover may be pivoted to the tailpiece proper without the use of pivot pins such as those disclosed inthe foregoing description, such means consisting of an oifset portion 42being stamped out from the cover material to form cylindrical surfacesto be received by the openings in the portions 26 of the turned downsection 22.

To adjust the tail piece to the instrument the projection 17 issupported on the bolt 13 and the loops of the strings are placed overthe prongs 21. The strings are then directed upwardly and over thecorner angle through the guideways or grooves 29 and thereafter aredisposed over the face of the head-plate section 15. Each string is thenthreaded beneath a cross-head 32 of a projection 31 and at one side ofthe stem portions thereof, so as to cause the curved surfaces of theheads 32 to bear downwardly upon the strings; as shown in Figure 2. Thestrings then pass to a bridge member 43 in the usual manner. the stringsto their desired preliminary tension the cover piece 28 is swungupwardly about its pivots to lie over the attached ends of the strings.In the case of the cover members shown in Figures 6 and 7, the cover ismerely swung upwardly about its pivots While the latter are disposedover the slots 39, so as to enable the pins 41 to enter the upper slots39, whereupon the entire cover is permitted to drop to position, i. e.the pins 41 and pivots 27 a will engage the lower ends of theirrespective slots in the ears 26 of the tail piece.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A tail piece for stringed musical instruments having a rim sectionand a head plate section, the latter being provided with T- shapedprojections whose cross-head portions are of downwardly curved shapesuitable to maintain only gradual curvatures in stretched instrumentstrings passing under said portions and up onto the upper surface ofsaid head plate.

2. In a tail piece for stringed musical instruments, a head plate havingT-shaped projections whose cross-head portions are concavely depressedbelow the level of the body of the head plate, whereby two stretchedinstrument strings will pass with only gradual curvatures under each ofsaid portions and up onto the upper surface of the body of said headplate.

3. A tail piece for stringed musical instruments comprising a rim platehaving integral string receiving members and lateral parallel flangeseach of which has an opening at its lower end, a cover piece havinglaterally disposed pivots which fit into said openings,

Having fully adjusted ion and means at the upper ends of said flanges tohold the cover piece in normally closed position.

4:. A tail piece for stringed musical instruments comprising a rim platehaving integral string receiving members and lateral parallel flangeseach of Which has a lower slot and an open-ended upper slot, a coverpiece having laterally disposed pivots which 10 fit into said lowerslots, and having also laterally disposed projections to slip into saidupper slots and hold the cover piece in normally closed position whensaid projections and upper slots have been brought into register byupward and arcuate movement of said cover piece.

In testimony whereof I affixed my signature.

ALBERT D. GROVER.

